A Quick Merry Christmas from Ddorf

Yesterday, on Christmas, Greg and I walked from my apartment in the Wersten neighborhood in Duesseldorf all the way to the Rhine River. We walked through some areas of town we hadn't yet seen, and ended up in Althimmelgeist near the river. Here we happened upon a brass band playing Christmas songs, and we were given the words to the songs and encouraged to sing along. The band then walked to another street corner nearby and played some more songs; we went with them and sang along again. Finally, we broke away and continued to the Rhine.

Today we are headed to Berlin to spend a week with Chris and see what interesting things we can find to see and do there. We have some opera tickets lined up too.

Merry Christmas!!!

Conrad and Chris are Traveling

Conrad has been on a two month around the world trip, of sorts. He went to Japan in mid August for a few weeks (I joined him for 10 days), and then spent September in Hamburg at a Goethe Institut, polishing his German. In his usual way, he saw and did a lot on his travels! After Hamburg he went to Copenhagen, Denmark to visit Chris, and now they are traveling together through Sweden and Norway.

I'll see Conrad for a couple of days when I arrive in Duesseldorf tomorrow. He flies home from Duesseldorf, with a week stop in Washington, D.C.

Chris went to Copenhagen in early September, and now he is planning to go to Berlin and work on his German at a language school there. Greg and I will be able to visit him at Christmas in Berlin (since we'll both be in Duesseldorf then).

Both boys are enjoying using their newly acquired German citizenship and passports in the EU! Here they are touring the world's largest ship that recently made a stop in Copenhagen.

Book Update September 2013

L'Assommoir by Emil Zola (1877).  A friend and I who have similar reading tastes are doing an online book club sort of thing. We both love late 19th, early 20th century fiction, especially by German authors.  My friend introduced me to the French author Zola, and I have been hooked. His novels, written in the "naturalism" style, are bleak, but the characters are fascinating. Zola's characters don't learn anything in the course of the story (which is why the stories are bleak). Instead, they act true to themselves to the bitter end.

This story is about the problem of drinking in the lower classes of Paris and the destruction it wrought. Interestingly, the title of this novel is usually not translated. "L'Assommoir" is the name of a typical, cheap drinking establishment of the time.

Across Islands and Oceans: A Journey Alone around the World by Sail and by Foot by James Baldwin (2012). In the 1980s Baldwin, only in his 20s, sailed alone around the world in a very simple boat, using no navigation technology. He didn't even have a radio on board. He stopped at various islands along the way and hiked across them. The story is told well, and this is an absorbing, enjoyable book.

Yoram by Ulrike Kolb (2012).  A story about a relationship between a German Jewish man and a German woman who meet in the eighties, when Germany is trying to move away from its past and its guilt. The difficulties of this situation are played out in the relationship of the two characters. It is done so skillfully and in such a gripping way that the reading is never trite or clichéd. I love this book!

Nana by Emil Zola (1880). Yes, another Zola! Nana is the name of the daughter of the main character in L'Assommoir. Nana represents all the excesses of Paris in the late nineteenth century. She comes to ruin, of course.

Weep Not, Child by Ngugi wa Thiong'o (1964). Ngugi is a prolific Kenyan author who has written a lot about the oppression of his people by British colonists. This is a work of fiction, but it draws heavily on the author's experiences as a child, when he and his family witnessed and participated in the struggle for independence. It is told simply and eloquently and is very moving. Ngugi is often a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he has not yet won the award.

Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy (1994). Grealy, a poet who died at a relatively young age not too long ago, had cancer in her jaw as a child. The operation to remove it greatly disfigured her, and numerous surgeries to try to reconstruct her face failed.  Here she tells her story, and it is a difficult one to read. But the writing doesn't get bogged down in sadness, and the author does ultimately come to terms with her fate.

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama (2007). A very light novel, great for reading during long layovers at airports. The lives of two brothers who grow up during WWII in Japan are chronicled here. One brother becomes a sumo wrestler, the other a Noh mask carver. What I found most interesting about this book was the description of what it was like for ordinary Japanese to live through the bombings and the long periods without food and supplies during the war.

Just Some Knitting Stuff

I recently purchased this enormous knitting bag, and it is so handy and so pretty to look at. At the risk of sounding horribly consumeristic and like a spokesperson for the "Vera Bradley" company, these bags are wonderful. They come many sizes and shapes, and if you sign up for the mailing list, you get a coupon for lots of money off. Then you are hooked, I guess. As you can see, the bag has several pockets inside and holds a ton of stuff.

Here's a top I recently finished, made of a light worsted weight wool and linen blend yarn--Berroco "Linsey." The pattern is the "Aria Shell" by Angela Hahn, in the spring issue of Interweave Knits.

And here's another finished project--yes, one more mini-shawl/scarf. You can't have too many of these! They are a blast to make and are just so pretty and practical. But actually, I do end up giving some away; I can't wear them all. (As always, let me know if you like something I've made, and I'll make one for you, in the colors you like!)

The yarn is a DK weight, plant fiber and cotton blend from Queensland Collection, "Haze." The pattern is called "Ripples," by Annelie Wallborn. (You can find it on Ravelry.)

Finally, Our Vienna Pictures

Here's the link for a few pictures from our March trip to Vienna and Bratislava:

https://plus.google.com/photos/103967026405398398091/albums/5861731929418374673

Spokane Falls in Spring

Conrad and Greg at the lower falls

This year Conrad made a great looking video of our Spokane River Falls in its thundering spring glory:

Bitty's Adventure

Friend Pava sent me these pictures with captions about our cat Cleo, aka Bitty. Pava graciously took Bitty when we moved into our apartment since cats are not allowed here. Bitty did not find it easy to adjust to a new environment, even though she gets better care and more attention than she did before, but now it looks like she has finally settled in!

Bitty goes exploring

She ponders where to go next

Perhaps this is a nice place

I think I'll rest a bit

Please don't talk while I'm resting

Yes, this is very nice

Ah, this is bliss

There's an Easter Market Too!

It is so much fun to discover new things here...today we happened upon an Easter market (Osternmarkt), which appears similar to the lovely Christmas markets I know from Germany. Maybe it's a new thing they started, I don't know for sure. But there it was with all kinds of hand made things, including plenty of Easter themed items, such as hollowed-out, hand-painted Easter eggs:

There were lots of stands selling all kinds of yummy foods and beverages: Apfelstrudel, gebrannte Mandeln and Gluehwein among them:

Plenty of people were out enjoying the market:

We refrained from the Gluehwein because it was early in the day (that did not stop most people, it seemed), but we're planning on going back tomorrow!

Bratislava!

St. Martin's Church, Bratislava

We took a side trip to Bratislava, Slovakia today, an hour's train ride from Vienna. Even though I had read some of the history of Bratislava and checked out what we should do and see there before, I didn't have a good idea of what it was I was going to see.

I had read that Bratislava had a long history as the seat of the Hungarian monarchy and that in the early twentieth century the population was mostly Hungarian and German; only a small proportion of the population was Slovakian. After WWI the Czech and Slovak areas become one country, Czechoslovakia, which was taken over by the Soviets after WWII and which, in the early 1990s, a while after the Iron Curtain came down, split into two countries: The Czech Republic and Slovakia; Bratislava became the capital of Slovakia. By the end of WWII, the Hungarians and Germans were mostly gone (many Germans were expelled).

The city certainly looks like a a former Communist city for the most part. It's grey, the buildings are in disrepair, and there are huge blocks of concrete apartments spread across a wide section of town. But in the center is the jewel...the enduring structures of that long history before the Communists took over. A castle, churches, town halls, palaces, cobble stone streets, beautiful narrow passageways and wide open squares. While we were looking at these sights, reading about the places, and taking pictures, I suddenly got it. Bratislava is the Slovakian name for the German city that was there for centuries--Pressburg.(of course, there's a Hungarian name too). Lots of big historical events took place there, such as the Peace of Pressburg, signed in 1805, effectively ending the Holy Roman Empire.

When I understood Bratislava as having been Pressburg, I felt like I understood the city and its past much better. It all made sense, and it made me miss Germany too.

Back in Vienna

Karlskirche, Vienna

It's cold here, but we didn't come for the weather. After visiting Vienna last year and going to several magical performances, we knew we had to come back for more music and ballet. So far we've been to a newly choreographed version of the ballet "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that makes you understand what ballet is all about, a beautiful rendition of "Rigoletto" at the Volksoper, and the exquisit "Barber of Seville" at the Staatsoper. The operas were, simply put, world class. The singing is so effortless that you think it could not be any work for the singers at all. We still have several more operas to see, and tonight, Greg is taking in the BBC Philharmonic. During the days we walk all over Vienna, stop to see a church, a museum, or some art, eat some cake, and walk and walk some more. It's really fun.

We have trips planned to Melk, Bratislava and who knows where else. But mainly, we're here for the culture... and the cake. Pictures will be posted soon; until then:

An East German "Trabbi" 

Love the flower shops!

A visit to Freud's house and work place

Perhaps our favorite cafe: Cafe Central

Greg enjoying "the best cake in the world" at Cafe Central

Books from 2012

Paradise Valley, MT, November 2012. Photo by Greg Winter

The Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox (1934). A classic and a must read for anyone interested in the teachings of Jesus. The interpretation is surprisingly secular, similar to New Age thinking and Eastern philosophy and thus easier to understand and accept than the traditional fire and brimstone interpretations so widespread in the US. Fox was a leader in New Thought, a movement influenced by the American Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_Thought).

Flirting with Mermaids by John Kretschmer (1991). Another sailing book, this one a bit goofy and certainly not good literature! I enjoyed reading it though because it's written by a guy who sails yachts to various destinations all over the world for a living, and Chris was doing just that at the time. (Chris and Jo helped sail a private yacht across the Atlantic to the Azores this past summer.)

Tschick by  Wolfgang Herrndorf (2010). Simply a good old fashioned story about a fourteen year old boy and his friend, a recent Russian immigrant to Germany, who is the protagonist's age but has wisdom beyond his years and life experience to add to the mix. The boys get into lots of trouble and learn a lot about life and growing up in the process. This is funny, intense, entertaining and enlightening.

Seven Years by Peter Stamm, trans. Michael Hofmann (2010). I got to read this because I volunteered again this year to help with the judging for the National Translation Award. This is ultimately a mood piece, I think, to be read for the writing and the nuance described in the chronicling of the main character's relationship with his wife. However, it is definitely worth reading for the story, lest you think there isn't much going on there. I thought this translation had a good chance of winning the award: when I compared it to the original German, I felt the translator had exactly captured the mood and tone.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (2006). I would have thought this was schlock, but it's actually very good. The author chronicles her struggles to overcome a depression after her divorce and to learn to meditate. The writing is entertaining, and the researched parts are outstanding. At times I found her bit of smugness here and there annoying, but it wasn't enough to make me put the book down. I would never ever go see the movie of this--the book is too good.

Oblivion by Hector Abad, trans. Anne McLean and Rosalind Harvey (2010).  A heart breaking memoir about the author's father, a doctor, intellectual and social activist in Columbia during the peak of the political turmoil in the seventies and eighties. There is no spoiler here--we already know at the beginning that this man, committed to helping fellow Columbians in issues of health, poverty, and education, will be shot to death on the street by his own government. Abad gives us a portrait of his father, his relationship to him, and of his whole family, and furthermore lets us experience growing up in Medillin and the nature of the political violence that all Columbians had to live with. Mario Vargas Llosa, quoted on Amazon, says it well; the book is "one of the most eloquent arguments written in our time or any time against terror as an instrument of political action.”

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (1838-39). You know how I love these long, drawn out nineteenth century English novels! Dickens is a really fun writer to read because he is just so clever. The stories are good, but it's his cleverness that gets me every time. When I compare him to Trollope, whom I absolutely adore (as you know), I have to admit that although they are both marvelous story tellers, Dickens is better. His social critique and his characters are always right on target.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2004). This is one of those books that makes you wonder continually while reading, "How does he do this?" The novel consists of six stories, each told in the first person by characters of different ages, nationalities, and time periods, yet all six stories relate to each other and make the novel a whole.  The author is able to become each one of his characters, and the result is completely convincing. Reviews say that this is a "puzzle book" in which the reader has to figure out how the stories and characters relate. If I had tried to do that, it would have driven me crazy. I enjoyed the fantastic story-telling and the astonishing literary quality. Later on, the connections became clearer.